The ability to separate contaminants from a liquid or gas is of critical importance in nearly every industry. In many instances, these contaminants condense, freeze, or deposit out of the liquid or gas. While changing the process from a liquid-liquid or gas-vapor separation to a solid-liquid or solid-gas separation is beneficial in many cases, the solids formed in this manner often become difficult to remove without shutting down the process and melting, desublimating, or scraping the solids. A method for separating contaminants from a liquid or gas by producing solids that mitigates or eliminates these difficulties is needed. Liquids are intended to include slurries, in this instance.
United States patent publication number 9587872, to Boarman, et al., teaches a refrigerator with thermoelectric device control process for an icemaker. The device utilizes a thermoelectric device to cool the ice and to harvest the ice. The present disclosure differs from this disclosure in that the device freezes the entire liquid stream, does not separate components in the liquid from the primary component of the liquid, and uses a single thermoelectric device for both making ice and removing ice. This disclosure is pertinent and may benefit from the methods disclosed herein and is hereby incorporated for reference in its entirety for all that it teaches.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,394, to Frohbieter, et al., teaches a clear cube ice maker. The present disclosure differs from this disclosure in that the device freezes the entire liquid stream, does not separate components in the liquid from the primary component of the liquid, and uses the cooling device for making ice and as the heating device for removing ice. This disclosure is pertinent and may benefit from the methods disclosed herein and is hereby incorporated for reference in its entirety for all that it teaches.